


Unfamiliar Territory

by totaldile



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 02:30:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8185802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totaldile/pseuds/totaldile
Summary: Her name means virtuous, but Yoshiko Tsushima is anything but.





	

It’s not that she’s into her, she tells herself. Uncle would never approve, and that sort of thing is - wrong.

Not that she’d say that to anyone, if she ever met someone who did happen to be inclined that way. That’d be rude, and it wasn’t technically wrong, it just - it wasn’t something she’d ever do. Not her - not Maru.

When Yohane tells her with a lick of pride in her voice that she very definitely swings that way, Maru feels a shiver scuttle down her spine.

Her name means virtuous, but Yoshiko Tsushima is anything but. The first time they meet, Yoshiko stands over her and asks if she’s the girl from the temple. She’s wearing thick black mascara, and Maru takes the time to trace every one before she meets the girl in the eyes, withers, and mumbles out a quiet assent. The girl with the mascara almost jumps back a meter, as if she’d burn if the two touched skin.

Maru wonders briefly what it would feel like to brush skin with her, before burying the thought deep in her chest and locking it away.

The existence of the Thought continues to bother her for the rest of the week, but nothing in her many, many books at home offer any insight. She feels like she’s heard something about everyone having those types of thoughts every now and again, but every encyclopaedia is a dead end, and no romance novel she’s ever read has allowed for - that sort of thing. Her meetings with Yoshiko, or Yohane as she prefers to be called, do nothing but grow the anxiety balling in her stomach as the girl shies away every time Maru so much as looks at her.

On the Friday after she had the Thought, she heads to the library, hoping to find something - anything - to ease her mind. She finds herself in a section she’s never been to before, with books she’s never bothered to look at any more than the spine of. For the first time, she pulls one off of the shelf, opens it up, and sits down to read.

Fifty-six pages later, she slams the book shut and buries her face in the cover. Girls can’t - they don’t - but they did. It takes her another ninety-two seconds, but eventually Maru finds it in herself to breathe and read the next line.

She checks the book out, and makes sure to hide it in her closet so her Uncle doesn’t see.

Maru isn’t a stranger to the library, but by the end of the next week, she’s become a seemingly permanent fixture. What she learns from each whirlwind of - something - is that every single one ends in tragedy when a husband appears. It’s the proper way to end a romance, surely, getting married to a man but every time she turns the final page her heart hurts, and Maru doesn’t know why.

She dares to think what if, and acknowledges that maybe the Thought isn’t the only one.

After a week of mulling it over, she tiptoes over to the library computer, makes sure nobody is looking, and types ‘Girl-girl romance with a happy ending into the screen. She hits enter - just like the nice librarian taught her how to - but her face falls and heart sinks when nothing comes up.

She’s about to turn and leave and shut off the computer in shame when she feels a breath on the back of her neck, and the grinning teeth of a certain Yoshiko smiling right at her. Maru jumps roughly ten feet into the air before leaping to her feet and blubbering out a something, a nothing in an attempt to justify herself, but the girl’s already read the screen and - oh god.

“Searching up Yuri would come up with better results, Kunikida-san,” she says, and there’s something disgustingly pleasant about the way Maru hears her say her name, so much so that she takes a moment to even look at the girl properly.

Instead of continuing at the computer, though, Yoshiko takes the smaller girl’s hand and tugs her towards a corner of the library Maru’s never bothered to visit. The taller girl wears a devilish smile, curved right up at the corners as if she’s just caught her next meal. However, when they stop, Yoshiko merely asks if she’s ever read manga before - and she hasn’t, of course, but the other girl just shoves a book into Maru’s hands and leaves with a flushed face.

She doesn’t dare open it until her Uncle and Aunt are in bed and the lights are out. The torchlight makes it a little difficult to see the pictures, but Yoshiko’s recommendation is shockingly satisfying. She finishes in a fraction of the time it would take her to read a normal novel, but the next day at school when she finds Yoshiko in an inconspicuous corner she shoves the manga at the girl and demands to be shown the next part. Maru tries not to think about the way the other girl’s mouth twitched into a smile, painted in red.

The two of them meet at the library after school, and once again, she’s led by the hand to that one corner of the library. She spends two hours there, blitzing through page after page so quickly she’s finished all thirty-two chapters before Yoshiko’s even done perusing two volumes of something with vampires. Maru watches her in between chapters, and she doesn’t miss the way the other girl’s eyes flicker towards her when she thinks the temple girl isn’t looking.

As it turns out, Yoshiko is a little excited to have someone else read the same things she does. Where Maru is reserved and quiet, the devil girl is bold and bright and proud of how she defies the expectations of society. She’s not afraid to say the L-word, but every time it bubbles in the back of Maru’s throat, it scorches her tongue as she tries to let it pass through her lips. In the end, she always swallows it back down again.

The series the taller girl had shown her is ongoing, but what really strikes Maru is the early confession - right from the fifth chapter, the two knew how they felt about each, all because of a dramatic kiss scene. She still blushes whenever the thought crosses her mind, but - she can’t help but think how romantic it would be.

Maru is tired of having Thoughts. She decides to just call them thoughts and be done with it.

Over the coming weeks, Yoshiko recommends series after series - all of them manga, of course - and in return, Maru recommends novels. There’s an unspoken pact between them that they don’t discuss it openly at school. If anything, the two barely exchange glances in the hallway, but outside, they’re always together at the library. Yoshiko calls her Maru, now - no more Kunikida. The first time she says it, Maru feels a cold, cold shiver down her spine that sends tingles through her whole body.

She says it again, as they leave the library, and the temple girl catches sight of an awfully endearing grin - all teeth, just like a cat. They walk together to the tree where they part, just like always, but the way the devil girl says her name stays on her mind, and -

Just before the taller girl turns to leave, Maru pulls her close and presses her lips to Yoshiko’s.

 


End file.
